Someone threatening to report a bad debt

You need to send a debt validation letter to them immediately by certified mail with a return receipt. Here is a link to a good template. you will have to edit it appropriately to fit your situation but all the info you need to demand is there.
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/forums/about216.html

The validation letter requires them to prove that the debt is theirs to collect and requires them to show how they arrived at the amount they say you owe and also any payments you have made to the original creditor after they had the debt. They will not have that info. They have to stop collecting until theu can validate it.

A collection agency can not threat or harass you, if you feel they are bothering you then you can make a complaint at your state attorney general????????s office. In my opinion you should send them a debt validation letter via certified mail with a return receipt request. And DO NOT pay them a single penny until and unless they validate the debt.

A collection agency can not make threats they do not intend to follow though with.

OK. I will mail that letter.

But after they do validate it, my original question still stands.

If I keep mailing the original person I owe it to and that person cashes the checks. Does that keep the creditor off my back.

How soon before they can report me, does it have to go 30 days without mailing them a payment?

From my own experience, I have a medical debt and am contacted by OSI. I continue to pay the hospital directly, and OSI sends a statement that does show my lower balance, and other blah blah stuff, but they do still call me regularly even though I spoke with someone that said "yes I see you are paying, just keep doing that" I don't respond to the calls, I just plug away at the balance - but I write the checks to the hospital & send it to their address, not OSI. So I think that unless you send them a "no contact except through the mail" certified they will prob still call you. I would not send a cease & desist, because I think that might trigger them to go further. They usually call me once a month. But you need to make consistent payments also...hope that helps a bit.

They can report you at any time. A bad debt is a bad debt and one of the consequences of having a bad debt is having it reported on your credit report.

You can continue to mail payments to the "creditor" but the collection agency will still call.

They can report you at any time just as stated above.There is really no reason to deal with the collector if the oc are accepting payments.The collection agency are receiving their commission directly from the creditor.

If the original creditor is encashing your check, then you do not need to deal with the collectors. It is always better to deal with the original creditor. The cease and desist letter is the best way out to stop the collection agencies from calling you. Send the letter via certified mail with a return receipt requested and keep a copy of the letter for your records. Sending the collectors a cease and desist letter does not mean that you can not be sued on the debt. So, you have to pay off your debts to show the debt as paid on your report.